Pálenka

In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, pálenka is any kind of distilled beverage but especially fruit brandy. The term is often used generically for all kinds of liquors, including vodka, gin and borovička. The word derives from the Slavic verb *paliti 'to burn; to distill'.
Similar products exist in Hungary under the name pálinka and in Romania under the name palincă. The product is also often compared to Rakia, a spirit found throughout much of the Balkans.
Most traditional types of pálenka in Moravia and Slovakia are slivovica, ražná, borovička, hruškovica, jablkovica. Popular are also čerešňovica and marhuľovica. Very distinctive among pálenkas are the ones distilled from fermented forest berries, including raspberries, blueberries, wild black thorn and cranberries. Drienkovica was popularized by the former Slovak president Rudolf Schuster.
Less common now but historically popular distillates include jeřabinka and . The latter was quite popular prior to the First World War, and features prominently in the works of Jaroslav Hašek, Petr Bezruč and Sigmund Freud.
It was the title of a 2014 award-winning novel by Matěj Hořava, about a Czech-speaking minority community in a village in Romania in Banat.